Heter Battery manufactured, or so I think. I had the opportunity to test some, bought quite long ago as fake Samsung 25Rs. Both my capacity and my internal resistance testing (≈35mΩ) match those of the above review. The fellow reviewer states “measured initial DC IR at 2.6A in fully charged condition was 23.5±1mΩ” which is wrong. Take a look at the discharge curves:
At the 270mAh x-axis point the 2A curve is at ≈3.81V, while the 13A one scores ≈3.43V. Hence DC IR = (3.81 − 3.43)V / (13 − 2)A = 0.38V / 11A = ≈34.55mΩ. 0% doubt chance.
The above link (https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bCuiObVW) is rejected by my AdAway advertising armor-plated smartphone. If some of you could post a real link please do so. Is that an affiliated link of some sort?
But… but… they have all 5-star reviews. They must be excellent batteries!
More seriously, they may actually be okay cells, but probably not high-drain.
Even if you get genuine Samsung 30Q cells, you don’t really know what grade they are. They could have been rejects from the Samsung factory, shipped to China for recycling. But someone in China may have diverted them to be resold as good batteries. They’re still genuine cells, but of poor quality.
Personally, I’d rather get some Chinese brand that passed its quality inspection, than a Samsung that failed it. Hopefully the Samsung rejects aren’t common, but you never know especially on Chinese sites like Ali.
I’ve bought some Samsung 30Q’s from China in the past couple of years. They look and test just like the real thing, and I believe they are. But, out of 9 cells, 3 have gone bad in the past year. That’s way to high a failure rate. I suspect they aren’t grade A or B cells. The 9 cells were all button-tops from Banggood (button was after-market). The flat-top 30Q’s from Banggood I have still appear to be all fine.
Damn… I just realized what you meant when you said they rebranded them. The ones I ordered don’t actually say Samsung anywhere on the page. Guess is a $20 lesson. Damn.
Tom Foolery https://imgur.com/a/hT0aTgE Looking at my order page it shows that the listing originally did say Samsung and has been changed. I sent them a message with a screenshot of the original listing. I’ve asked him to confirm that I’m getting Samsung batteries. Hopefully they do agree they’re sending me what it was originally labeled so when they come I can further dispute they are fakes. We’ll see.
I see. Cells from another manufacturer rewrapped to look like something different. Had some of these in the past, measured their DC internal resistance back then and got around 41mΩ. Their capacity was a little bit above 3Ah.
Please note that Heter Battery also uses a triple leg top for at least some of its cells. Check this fake 25R sale, for example:
I really hate that I ordered an 8 pack of those. I was hoping for a set and a backup set for my new Sofirn Q8. Are they okay to use in anyting or should I just trash them? I also have a blf A6 on the way. Would that be okay for that?
Yeah, you don’t need high-drain cells for those lights, but they will perform better (higher output) with good high-drain cells. With lower-drain cells, the battery will sag voltage so the FET driver in the light won’t provide as much current to the emitter(s). This means less current demand from the battery, which keeps things safe.
There are some really high-powered FET-driven lights where I wouldn’t want to use a low-drain cell. Those are all multi-emitter lights, like the Emissar D4 or Astrolux S43. And, avoid high-output lights that use a boost driver, such as Zebralights. Those will suck more current from your cell than is safe.
Jehu Garcia tested a Liitokala HG2 in his most recent video and it was 100% fake. Didn’t come close to meeting the discharge specs. Interestingly, he tested their 35E awhile ago and it was real.
To be fair, the sellers are not the ones making the fakes. They’re just buying from a distributor, and don’t really know (or care) whether they’re fake or not. They just want something cheap, so they can mark it up for a decent profit. Fakes make for more profit, generally. But if an honest distributor supplies them with genuine cells, they’ll happily sell those too.
The problem is that it could be anyone in the supply chain that is making the fakes. Since we can’t buy directly from manufacturers, we’re at the mercy of a supply chain that can often be cheating.
That’s why they meticulously avoid naming the manufacturer and instead call them “LiitoKala NCR18650B” or somesuch? Nah, I’m not buying it. They may just slap their label on it, but they’re very well aware.
I mean… most of the stores themselves are a ripoff, although I’m not even certain if that one mythical original “LK” ever existed. And I bet, if you asked them
every single one would tell you they’re the real deal and all the others are the clones.
